In 1997 the UW-Madison Mathematics Department celebrated the 100th
anniversary of the granting of the first PhD in Mathematics by the
University of Wisconsin. Many of you were present at our PhD
Centennial Conference held in Madison during May of 1997, some as
former PhDs and some with PhDs still in progress. As many of you
may recall from our 1997 newsletter, the first Wisconsin
Mathematics PhD was awarded to Henry Freeman Stecker in 1897 with
a thesis titled ``On the roots of equations, particularly the
imaginary roots of numerical equations.'' Stecker, a native of
Sheboygan, Wisconsin, went on to have a successful career at Penn
State University.

There were many highlights of our 1997 celebration, but none as
thrilling as the festivities of the banquet in the Memorial Union
when the many Wisconsin PhDs present were introduced. Among them
were the ``fifty or more years group'' consisting of Lowell Paige
[PhD, 1947, R.H. Bruck], William Leavitt [PhD 1947, R.E. Langer],
Robert Lee Wilson [PhD 1947, C.C. MacDuffee], Robert Bartels [PhD
1938, I. Sokolnikoff], Margarete Caroline Wolf Hopkins [PhD 1935,
M. Ingraham], and Elizabeth (Betty) Thatcher Stafford
Hirschfelder, [PhD 1930, M. Ingraham]. Betty's class contained the
18th, 19th, and 20th Wisconsin Mathematics PhD. Sadly, as
reported elsewhere in this newsletter, Betty died this past year.

Those of you who participated in the celebration in May of 1997
may remember our ``logo'' representing the number of Mathematics
PhDs awarded after 100 years:

Math PhD dt = 900±e

The e reflected the uncertainty of how many graduate
students would actually finish in 1997. Now our website contains a
current list of all Wisconsin Math Phds. You can find it at

http://math.wisc.edu/directories/alumni.html
The current Mathematics PhD count is 982 which means that sometime within
the next year or so we are expected to reach the 1000 mark:

Math PhD dt = 1000

The attainment of such a milestone, which could occur in
any of the months May, August, or December, will be good reason
for a local celebration, followed by a special Wisconsin Reunion
at the annual AMS Meeting (Will it be Phoenix 2004 or Atlanta 2005?). We
hope to see many of you there. Watch our website for when this
milestone is reached.
Now read about what's been going on this past year in the
UW-Madison Mathematics Department. And please stay in touch by
letting us know what's been happening in your professional career.
We have an alumni section in this newsletter for your news. And
don't forget to update your addresses
if there has been a change. We want to make sure that
this newsletter reaches you.

I am delighted to have this chance, 6 months into my first year as
Chair, to share a few words with the UW Math community. My new job
has a steep learning curve, especially in these challenging times,
so first off I would like to thank the previous two chairs,
Richard Brualdi and Alejandro Adem for their generous and ongoing
support. Thanks to their guidance, and with the help of our superb
faculty and staff, I am confident the department will continue its
tradition of excellence.

Last year we had one of our best hiring seasons ever with the
addition of 3 distinguished tenured professors: Nigel Boston,
Xiuxiong Chen, and Alexander Kiselev. Nigel Boston joins our
excellent applied math program as a cluster hire, joint with
Electrical Computer Engineering. Xiuxiong Chen, a speaker at the
most recent International Congress of Mathematicians, augments our
world-class geometry group. Alexander Kiselev is a talented young
analyst with interest in applications who, like our other recent
addition to the analysis group Alexandru Ionescu, has recently won
a Sloan Fellowship. We are very excited about this influx of
world-class talent.

As always, Madison is buzzing with math conferences, workshops and
seminars this year. Here I will just mention some highlights. Last
fall we hosted the AMS Central Section meeting. This spring
Xiuxiong Chen is organizing the Great Lakes Geometry Conference,
May 1-4, in honor of E. Calabi. Summer 2003 events include a
Research Experience for Undergraduates hosted by Ken Ono and the
annual Probability Intern Program hosted by Jim Kuelbs and Tom
Kurtz.

Our faculty and staff also continue to garner an impressive array
of honors and awards. For lack of space, let me single our Melinda
Certain, who has just won the prestigious Chancellor's Hilldale
Award for Excellence in Teaching. Sadly, Melinda is retiring at
the end of the semester after nearly 15 years of outstanding
service, highlighted by her role as Coordinator of our very
successful Wisconsin Emerging Scholars program.

Many of you undoubtedly know that the State and University are now
confronting a serious budget crisis. As a result, our department
is being asked to make substantial cuts in all our operations.
Hiring this year will be confined to cluster initiatives in
Molecular Biometry and String Theory, as well as a few Van Vleck
postdocs. So my current agenda for the department focuses on some
major improvements to our building and office space, as well as
our computing infrastructure. I hope to report back to you next
year with good news in these areas. If I may be forgiven a modest
solicitation, suffice it to say that even small donations are
especially meaningful in times like this. Without your gifts it is
more and more challenging to sustain our excellent research and
teaching programs.

Finally, let me encourage everyone to stop by the department next
time you're in Madison. Alternatively, consider visiting the
Annual Wisconsin Reunion of Alumni and Friends next January in
Phoenix at the Joint Mathematics Meetings. Either way, I look
forward to meeting you.

Please use this form to update our information on your activities for
use in the next newsletter.
Send to:
Richard A. Brualdi, Editor,
Department of Mathematics,
University of Wisconsin,
480 Lincoln Drive,
Madison, WI 53706-1381 (brualdi@math.wisc.edu)

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